


Offering

by lionessvalenti



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Not-so-secret relationships, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 14:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20932103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: Sam and Bucky are sleeping together. Steve and Natasha are... something. Steve hasn't figured out what.





	Offering

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sodium_amytal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodium_amytal/gifts).

"You know Bucky and Sam are sleeping together, right?"

Steve looked over at Natasha. She hadn't looked at him as she had spoken, everything else busy with piloting while Steve lounged in the co-pilot's seat, doing nothing.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. 

They'd been subtle at first, but there was no keeping secrets in these close quarters. Any change in the equilibrium of the team stuck out like a sore thumb, even if the changes weren't bad. It was little things, like the way they sat next to each other, thighs touching, or more obvious things, like Bucky opting to share a shitty motel room with Sam instead of Steve ("I'll torture him with my snoring for a while," Bucky had said, and Steve hadn't pushed the issue).

"And how does that make you feel?" Natasha asked, throwing a grin in Steve's direction.

He laughed. "Fine. They're adults, they can do what they want."

"Come on, your two best friends sleeping together? You don't have any thoughts about that?"

"I do. That they're adults and they can do what they want. I guess..." Steve turned his head to look out at the passing clouds.

"What?"

"Nothing, it doesn't change anything. I was thinking, maybe it would be different if they were... I don't know, in love? Or if they're just sleeping together. But it doesn't matter. This is a hard life and none of you have to be here. Good for them to find something that makes them happy."

That was actually the first thing Steve had noticed. Both of them were smiling more, joking around and sniping at each other less. It was a good look for the both of them.

Natasha made a little agreement sound. "You're wrong about one thing. Well, a lot of things, but one thing pertaining to this conversation."

Steve snorted. "What's that?"

"We do have to be here. None of us were going to let you do this alone."

He smiled, if only to cover up the threat of tears. It was a genuinely touching sentiment. "Thanks. That's good to hear because this is what makes me happy. On the move, helping people, and doing it all with my friends. I can't ask for anything more than that. Feels like the right thing to do."

"Completely fulfilled, then? No back of the jet sex for you?" Natasha asked.

"Why, Romanoff, you offering?" Steve asked, half laughing.

He'd been expecting her to laugh with him, or give him some sort of quip, but instead she gave him a once over before looking back ahead with a smirk. 

Steve's face went hot. He turned back toward the window, mouth dry. Thoughts of Sam and Bucky were gone.

* * *

Steve carefully balanced three brown paper bags between his two hands. Weight he could manage, but he still had a limit for how many separate _things_ he could carry at once. It was awkward, especially as he walked on narrow, uneven cobblestone sidewalks back to the cheap hotel.

They had separated for the supply run, as traveling through cities in a group was going to attract more attention than if they were alone. There was no obvious threat, but Steve was still on high alert, so when he heard a noise, he turned his head toward the nearby darkened alley.

Instantly, Steve realized he was looking at something he shouldn't be seeing. He knew he should look away, but instead he watched.

With their own brown paper bags dropped onto the ground, Sam had Bucky pushed up against a wall, his hands on Bucky's waist. Bucky laughed at something Sam said in his ear, his smile wide and genuine. He touched Sam's cheek and kissed him. It was a quick, soft kiss, then Sam pushed in for more. Bucky was still smiling.

That was when Steve got moving again. He'd seen far too much of a private moment, but he supposed it answered the question of whether or not they were in love or just sleeping together.

Steve smiled to himself.

Sam and Bucky were considerably less adorable when they were fucking loudly on the other side of a thin wall.

"Do they think we can't hear them?" Natasha asked as she walked out of the bathroom. A white towel was wrapped around her body and her hair was wet around her shoulders.

"I don't imagine they're thinking about us at all," Steve replied mildly.

She laughed and sat down on the other bed with a comb in her hand. "They'll wear out soon enough, though, right?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Sam might."

Natasha laughed again. "Super soldier stamina is a thing, huh?"

Steve knew he was blushing, the heat prickling across his cheeks. "It's a thing."

"Are you ever satisfied?" There wasn't any laughter in her tone. She sounded genuinely curious, maybe even a little concerned.

"There's satisfaction in a job well done."

She snorted. "Seriously?"

Steve started to reply, but was interrupted by the loud orgasm on the other side of the wall. It was followed by Bucky's laughter. As much as he didn't need to be hearing Sam and Bucky's sex, it was sort of sweet. If he didn't think about it too much. Like catching them kissing, it made him smile.

"You really are happy for them," Natasha said.

"Of course I am," Steve replied. "Why wouldn't I be? Aren't you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'm jealous."

"You?"

"Sure. Listening to those guys go at it was the most action I've gotten in months."

The heat that had flushed Steve's face spread slowly down his neck. He was suddenly aware that Natasha was wearing only a towel. From the look on her face, she hadn't forgotten.

Slowly, she rose from the bed and approached Steve. He held his breath as she ran a hand through his hair. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Nat," he exhaled.

"I'm going to get dressed," she said in a quiet voice before moving back to the bathroom. Steve's gaze followed her movement. She shot him a look and a smile. This conversation wasn't over.

* * *

Steve and Bucky walked wordlessly through the jungle side-by-side. Steve knew Bucky well enough to know he was teetering on the edge, but they didn't say a word. The mission had failed. Blood was splattered across Bucky's clothes.

They reached the small clearing where the quinjet was landed. Natasha and Sam were already there, waiting for them.

Bucky moved directly into Sam's arms. His shoulders shook with a sob, the sound muffled, his face pressed into the crook of Sam's neck. Sam wrapped his arms around Bucky's body and pulled him close.

"Hey, I've got you. I got you," Sam mumbled, running a hand over Bucky's hair. He looked at Steve over Bucky's shoulder, eyes wide and questioning. Sam knew the mission had gone bad, but he probably wasn't expecting this.

Steve opened his mouth, but no words came out. He turned helplessly to Natasha.

"Let's get on the jet," she said.

It took a little bit of time, Sam slowly guiding Bucky on board. They disappeared into the back, so Steve gave them their privacy, moving into the cockpit with Natasha.

When they reached altitude, Natasha turned on the autopilot and turned toward Steve. She didn't say anything, her gaze steady and patient, waiting on him.

"I don't want to talk about it." Steve looked out the window, but he could still feel her watching him.

"You don't have to." A beat later, Natasha sat down in Steve's lap. He hadn't even seen her coming, his attention focused on the passing clouds. She curled up on him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm fine, Nat. I'm fine," Steve protested weakly, but his hands were already on her hips.

"I know you are. We all are, right?"

He buried his face in her shoulder. "Right," he mumbled. He didn't cry, but his breathing grew a little ragged as Natasha gently raked her fingernails through his hair. For one peaceful moment, the world was nothing else except the two of them.

* * *

They were quiet over the next few days, letting the failed mission slowly recede from their short term memory and into the long term. It wasn't going to be quick and easy, but the quiet was helping.

That was why Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise when Bucky sat down next to him. He was so close their shoulders were touching.

"I should have told you about me and Sam," Bucky said.

"It didn't take a genius to figure out." Steve grinned and bumped his shoulder gently against Bucky's. "You guys aren't exactly subtle."

Bucky snorted a soft laugh. A little smile spread across his face. "I like him."

"I can tell."

Bucky bit his lower lip, still smiling. "I should have told you about me. A long time ago."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Buck. I get it." 

Steve hadn't known Bucky was bi, or gay, or whatever it is he was, but it was less shocking than finding out Bucky had been alive for seventy years. He liked to think it wouldn't have changed anything if Bucky had told him before. But he certainly understood why Bucky wouldn't want to have said anything in 1940.

"I knew you would." Bucky needled his metal elbow into Steve's side. "What's going on with you and Romanoff?"

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, but he could feel the heat building in his face. 

Bucky laughed. It sounded good, and Steve hadn't realized how much he'd missed Bucky's laugh over the last few days. "And you think me and Sam aren't subtle. I've seen all those long stares when you think no one is looking. Why don't you make a move?"

It was difficult to do sitting down, but Steve somehow managed to shuffle his feet awkwardly. "I'm not really a moves kind of a guy. And Nat's always had guys hitting on her all the time. Who says she wants one more?"

"You do when it's the guy you want." Bucky elbowed him again. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

* * *

Steve and Natasha sat on the floor of their hotel room with a pizza box between them. Sam and Bucky had eaten with them, but disappeared to their room after getting a little handsy. Steve had clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder and reminded him that the walls were thin.

Natasha stretched one long leg out, her bare foot just brushing against the inside of Steve's ankle. "Ready for India?"

Steve's mind began to flip through all the points for the mission. They'd been taking on some softball jobs since the failure, and this was the first one with real risk. He steadied his breathing. "You really want to mission brief right now?"

The corners of her lips quirked up into a smile. "No. You want the last slice of pizza?"

"No."

"Then what do you want?"

Steve clenched his jaw, then immediately made a point to relax. She was teasing him, challenging him. She had been offering. She'd been offering this whole time, and he'd been too scared to see it.

Wordlessly, Steve shifted and crawled toward her. He cupped her face in one hand, his thumb running along her lower lip. There was a hitch in her breath as she gazed up at him.

"Finally," Natasha said, tilting her face up toward him.

He kissed her, savoring the quiet moan she made as her hand slipped around the back of his neck. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up, maneuvering their bodies flush together. At a better angle, he would have scooped her up completely, but they were already so close to the bed.

And in the morning, Sam would cheekily remind him that the walls were thin.


End file.
